With my Annual Terrace, B.C trip being cancelled ,I was now heading out to the last best place for the second time this year for some great last minute performances and new fishing adventures to be had. What I really found were some great new rivers , great new people and some incredible food. I arrived early in Bozeman on Oct 8th and headed over to Music Villa for my rental gear and then onto Bozone Brewery to have a few brews with owner Todd Scott. This Covid has everyone on edge in the state and cases were on the rise. I headed to Wolf Creek to stay at my friend Pat Hunter's and then it was up early on the way to Big Fork. I wanted to try the Flathead river so I took the Northern route through Browning and the Blackfoot reservation.The Flathead comes into view after East Glacier and there is plenty of access along Highway 2. It was a beautiful day and I thought for sure a fish would crash my stimulator but it became apparent that this was not going to happen after numerous casts in the most beautiful water imaginable. I settled for an incredible outdoor lunch in West Glacier instead. After my show at Flathead Brewery in Big Fork I headed towards Ennis the next day and found some beautiful water on the Blackfoot near Mineral Hill. The fish were everywhere and after landing a number of Rainbows and Cutthroat I headed to play at the World famous Gravel Bar and see my friend and owner Scott Kelley .This is the headquarters for all the Madison River anglers ..Great food and a great new Brewery as well on the property. After a great windy performance it was on to the famous Philipsburg Brewery and fishing on Georgetown Lake. It was below freezing but instead of Rainbows I found lots of Kokanee. They are a small landlocked Sockeye and are great fighters. On to the brewery and then the next day I met my friend Will from Flint Creek outfitters.Instead of Rock Creek we decided to try another lake and landed a beautiful Cutthroat and lost a Bull Trout.Next it was on to the Bitterroot around Hamilton to meet my friend Ken Jacobsen from Seattle.Ken is a retired Veterinarian from Seattle and now has a home in the Valley. We had met there in Hamilton in 2011 .It was an awful day with pouring rain and 38 degrees but we managed some beautiful fish on small blue winged olives. I was heading back to Whitefish the next day to get ready for a performance at the Tupelo Grill on Thursday in Whitefish. The highlight of this day was some incredible Thai food in Kalispell .Then some evening fishing on the South Fork of the Flathead for some Cutthroat fishing. I had the whole day Thursday before my show and was able to find some Cutthroat and great scenery..Friday I was heading back to Wolf Creek to Pat Hunter's and Fishing on the Missouri. The wind basically blew us off of all our favorite spots and we settled for drinks and dinner on his back deck with his Border Collie"Pickles".. I woke up Saturday to a heavy snow and an awful drive through the canyon and Highway 287 to Bozeman. I decided to stay local and fish the Gallatin and found a few nice fish at the top of the Canyon. My last gig was cancelled because of the health scare so I was happy to have fished in the snow and picked up a great dinner at the Coop in Bozeman!! Till next time Montana !!
